Box Score
HUNTSVILLE, Texas – The University of Central Arkansas opened their first ever Southland Conference Volleyball Tournament with a sweep over Nicholls on Friday afternoon at Johnson Coliseum. The top-seeded Sugar Bears (27-7) downed the eighth-seeded Colonels (14-16) 25-22, 25-23, 25-12.
UCA moves on to Saturday’s semifinals, where they will face fourth-seeded UT Arlington , a 3-1 winner over host Sam Houston State on Friday. The match will start at 7:30 p.m. and will stream live on SLC Now on www.southland.org.
“Our main goal was to be playing on Saturday,” said UCA head coach and Southland Coach of the Year Steven McRoberts. “So now that is out of the way, our goal changes to Sunday. It’s great to have the first postseason win for Central Arkansas since we joined the Southland Conference.”
UCA led the first set 10-8, when Nicholls went on a 6-0 run to take a 14-10 lead. The Sugar Bears answered with a 7-2 run, taking a 17-16 advantage and the lead for the rest of the frame.
UCA only hit .160 for the set, but they recorded 18 kills, while Nicholls had eight kills and hit .125. Junior outside hitter Jessica Hays paced the Sugar Bears with seven kills and junior libero Cristin Curl came up with nine digs in the opening frame.
The second set saw the lead change three times with 10 ties. Tied at 23-23, Hays put Nicholls away with a kill and an assisted block with freshman middle blocker Jessica Nagy.
Both teams struggled on offense in the second set. The Sugar Bears hit just .027 with 12 kills, but the Colonels were worse with seven kills and a -.037 hitting percentage.
UCA was much more crisp in the third set, as they hit .350 with 17 kills and only three errors. The Colonels hit .132 with eight kills.
“I’m proud of the girls and the way they fought,” McRoberts said. “Especially early when we were making a lot of errors. I felt they got better as the match went on.
For the match, UCA outhit Nicholls .181 to .082 and had a 47-23 kills advantage. The Sugar Bears served up seven aces to the Colonels’ one.
Hays, a first team All-Southland selection, recorded her 16th double-double of the season with 17 kills and 10 digs. Senior Chloe Smith, the three time conference player of the year, had 12 kills and eight digs and Nagy added nine kills. Curl led all players with 26 digs and Southland Freshman and Setter of the Year Marissa Collins had 37 assists.
Rachel Yezak led the Colonels with eight kills and Danielle Daigle had nine digs.
